Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

Karl wrote:  “Genesis 20 referred to a completely different city, in the
south, not Tyre in the north of Canaan. Further, Abimelekh was the king of
GRR, not CR….”

For 2,500 years now, all scholars have agreed with Karl’s view that Genesis
20: 1-2 refers to a locale south of Gaza.  But many people may be surprised
to find out that there is nothing in the secular history of the ancient
world to support that traditional, non-historical view, even though no scholar
has ever challenged it.

1.  The only QD$ referenced by the name QD$ in Canaan prior to the common
era is historical QD$ of Upper Galilee (ignoring the medieval pointing that
was added in the Middle Ages).

2.  The only GRR referenced prior to the common era is item #80 on the
mid-15th century BCE Thutmosis III list.  The Egyptian letters are KRR, and
their Biblical Hebrew equivalent is thought by most scholars to be either GRR 
or
GLL.  Most all scholars see that item #80 as being located in northern
Canaan.  (In addition, the Amarna Letters and Ugaritic literature reference a 
GR
[though not GRR], in roughly the same location.)

3.  As previously discussed (being a modified version of an idea I picked
up from Karl), the seafaring people of Tyre may have compared the “rolling”
/GRR hills in Upper Galilee to their east to the “rolling” waves of the
Mediterranean Sea to their west.  Though Abi-MLK of Tyre excoriates Hazor and
many rulers in Lebanon in the Amarna Letters, he never criticizes QD$ of Upper
Galilee, located north of Hazor, and as such located very close to the
overland trade route from Tyre to the Beqa Valley that Tyre liked to control.
It makes perfect historical sense for GRR/“Gerar” to be the “rolling”/GRR
hills between QD$ of Upper Galilee and the coast that were effectively
controlled by super-wealthy Abi-MLK of Tyre.

4.  As we have been discussing on this thread, %WR in the unpointed text of
Genesis 20: 1 is one possible, albeit non-standard, spelling of Tyre/Ssur.
CWR would admittedly be a superior spelling of “Tyre”, but most Biblical
authors were unwilling to use the divine epithet CWR -- “divine-like rock”
-- as the name of the disliked, arrogant Tyre.

5.  The name Abi-MLK at Genesis 20: 2 is the same as the name of the
historical ruler of Tyre in the Amarna Letters.  The people of Tyre, unlike 
most
other people, honored the famous pagan god Baal under the name MLK/“King”.
Virtually the only place in secular history where one would expect to see
the name Abi-MLK is Tyre.  Surely the author of the Patriarchal narratives
knew that!

6.  Although NGB at Genesis 20: 1 has traditionally been thought to refer
to the Negev Desert, there in fact is no secular historical inscription
pre-dating the common era to support that traditional view.  The only NGB we 
have
in ancient secular history is item #57 on the T III list, which probably is
referencing a place in northern Canaan, likely located on the west coast of
the Sea of Galilee.

7.  We see that there is not a single secular historical inscription
pre-dating the common era to support the traditional, non-historical southern 
view
of the locale of Genesis 20: 1-2.  By stark contrast, all 5 proper names in
those two Bible verses have close matches to secular historical
inscriptions from Bronze Age northern Canaan.  QD$, NGB and Abi-MLK are exact,
letter-for-letter matches.  GRR is probably (though not certainly) a
letter-for-letter match to the KRR on the T III list.  The only non-ideal 
linguistic match
here is %WR as possibly referencing Tyre, which is what we have been
discussing on this thread.  Though %WR is not the ideal rendering of Tyre, 
neither
is the CR (which as a common word means “enemy”) that is used in most of
the Bible to reference Tyre.  The sound of %WR is quite similar to CWR in a
Bronze Age context, differing only in that the initial S-sound is not emphatic
in %WR.  If one is willing to admit that all spellings in the ancient world
were not absolutely uniform and rigidly standardized throughout the
millennia (especially before written Hebrew is even attested), then perhaps 
one may
be willing to consider %WR as possibly being an early, archaic,
non-standard spelling of similar-sounding Tyre/CWR/Ssur.

If we look to secular historical inscriptions pre-dating the common era,
everything favors a northern Canaan locale for Genesis 20: 1-2.  There is
n-o-t-h-i-n-g  in terms of ancient secular historical inscriptions to support
the traditional, 2,500-year-old southern view of the geographical locale of
Genesis 20: 1-2.  I am well aware of the fact that no scholar has ever
questioned that traditional, non-historical religious view, which in my 
opinion
goes back to Ezra, not earlier.  But if any scholar out there were to look at
the unpointed text of Genesis 20: 1-2 in the truly ancient Patriarchal
narratives, and ignore II Chronicles, it would soon become apparent that the
locale of Genesis 20: 1-2 is Galilee, in a Bronze Age context, rather than 
being
south of Gaza.

The same analysis holds true as to Genesis 14: 7.  All five proper names at
Genesis 14: 7 can be verified by secular historical inscriptions from
Bronze Age northern Canaan.  But there’s no secular historical inscription
pre-dating the common era to back up the traditional, non-historical view 
that the
proper names at Genesis 14: 7 signify a locale south of Gaza.  In analyzing
the geographical site of both Genesis 20: 1-2 and Genesis 14: 7, all
scholars unfortunately rely uncritically on the pointing and II Chronicles, 
while
having  n-o-t-h-i-n-g  in terms of an ancient secular historical inscription
to back up any aspect of their traditional, non-historical, religious view
of the geographical locale.

The Hebrews’ claims to  a-l-l  of Canaan are much older, and stronger, than
today’s scholars realize.  The first step in a long overdue historical
reexamination of the Patriarchal narratives is to reconsider the actual
geographical location of GRR/Gerar, a place that is frequently referenced in 
the
Patriarchal narratives.  If we can get the geography of the Patriarchal
narratives right -- including in particular identifying QD$ at Genesis 14: 7 
and
20: 1 as being historical QD$ of Upper Galilee, instead of incongruously
being, as scholars wrongfully insist, the non-attested name Kadesh-barnea of a
locale 60 miles south of Gaza [Not!] -- the rest will take care of itself.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois

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